South Sound Cutthroat keyed in on Chum Fry, action heating up!!

Hey guys,
It's been a while since my last report. I tried to swing up a winter steelhead for the first time this winter, which is really time consuming and kind of costly.... I didn't find my first fish, but I'll try again next year.

Roger gave me a call last week and told me it was time to go look for some of his South Sound Searuns. Roger had seen some chum fry around last week and the tides looked great. This would be Roger's first year trying to match the hatch with actual chum fry patterns. This was not easy for Roger, who is famous for only fishing two flies a day, one on top, and one subsurface. Roger tied on a small Chum fry tube that looked awesome, but I could see his nervousness.... "A new fly??? Will it work? Maybe I should just stick to what I know works?!?!" I think he had one of his olive/white Sequin Tube Clousers in his pocket all day.... and stuck to his hat.... and hanging out of his mouth... and nervously picking one out of his fly box and muttering before putting it back. But Roger stayed with his new Chum Fry creation and I think he was glad he did.

As we launched I saw chum fry dimpling everywhere, we both started grinning at each other and headed out into the South Sound. We started in an inlet where the water was really moving and Roger literally pulled a fish out of every seam we fished, while I initially struggled. I would be stripping in my fly when I would hear Roger start laughing behind me, SOB! He got another one! Now I was the one muttering and looking through my flybox!!!

We worked our way out of the inlet, each of us picking up a fish here and there, all 10"-12" beauties, but there didn't seem to be any concentrations of fish. We then moved onto a beautiful beach that Roger had not fished for several years. I started on top and on my first cast had a nice fat SRC jumping out of the water 2-3 times without connecting.. we found them!! The fish were here and here in numbers!

The next half an hour was amazing with many fish landed, and even more LDR'd. The biggest fish was around 15"-16", and they were all fattening up quickly and looked healthy. There were some nice fish that were aggressively following and striking our topwater flies, but the hook up rates were extremely low. As soon as you sent a subsurface chum fry pattern swinging to them it was a hook up every other cast, and the cuts were just hammering the flies, it was awesome!!

The aftermath:

Once the tide slowed and stopped, the fishing slowed as usual. It was a fantastic day and great start to the Spring!

That's what I call a "bad report!" Super bad! Bad-ass, even! So bad-ass, that it might be "the shot heard round the world." Shame on you guys for having too much fun! I'll wait a couple of days until all the freshly inspired beach and boat traffic dies down, and then I might head up that way.

Great report Steve! I've been striking out on the North Seattle beaches, I guess it is time to head south, it seems the fishing is better down there. Puget sound fishing for SRCs is new to me and I'm still looking for my first catch.

Thanks guys, it was great to find some fish finally.... and nice to have Roger guiding me since he knows every inch of the South Sound! My usual haunts haven't been very consistent yet, but I imagine that's about to change.

Cwlinkem, there can be great fishing from North Seattle on up, but the early season fish are easier to find the further south you go. Keep that in mind as you explore. You'll find them brother!

[quote="Steve Knapp, post: 825087, member: 17161"The next half an hour was amazing with many fish landed, and even more LDR'd. The biggest fish was around 15"-16", and they were all fattening up quickly and looked healthy. There were some nice fish that were aggressively following and striking our topwater flies, but the hook up rates were extremely low. As soon as you sent a subsurface chum fry pattern swinging to them it was a hook up every other cast, and the cuts were just hammering the flies, it was awesome!![/quote]

We fished this beach from shore and it turned into a "role reversal" from earlier fishing. Steve was hooking sea-run cutthroat almost every cast. I would hear him saying "I got another one" as I was untangling fly lines from two rods all over the inside of the boat. Once I went ashore, I was losing flies constantly to the bottom and to the beach behind me when using a sinking line. I switched to the fly rod with a floating line and by the time I got back into the "game" the fish were disappearing. Steve had a big grin on his face and I turned into a grouch !

Steve, kudos for nailing some fish with Roger, writing a classic Roger style thread title, and well just inspiring the rest of us mob to get out there. Looks like that bottom fly needs a little hook sharpening!